God of War 3 takes everything you loved about the series and amplifies it. The result of this is a truly engrossing game on all levels, from gameplay to graphics and even the music. If I were to sum up the game in one word it would have to be “Epic”.

The graphics are extraordinary, and the ‘wow’ factor kicks in from the very start. The visuals are consistently stunning throughout the game, however, the boss fights are really designed to take your breath away most of the times. I don’t believe any other game has attempted something this colossal, although the boss fights have always been grand in the series, this time around they are simply ridiculous, but in a good way! What’s even more impressive is that all this happens without any hint of lag – so it’s a smooth experience from start to finish.

The music is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the God of War series, and sounds very much like the previous games. It still does a great job of heightening the tension in key moments and keeping you engaged. However, maybe I’ve grown up since playing the last 2 games, but this time I felt the dialogue for Kratos was quite cheesy and uneven in some places. The rest of the characters you encounter throughout the game have dialogue more congruent with their personas.

The gameplay itself is practically identical to its predecessors. You get some very cool and distinct weapons along the way which make slaying your opponents quite thrilling. There are four main weapons that can be leveled up for additional moves which add more ‘flexibility’ and power to your array of assaults. Speaking of assaults, this game is way more brutal than before, in some cases giving you options to go on ruthlessly after you’ve killed your opponent. As an example, there is one boss fight where you keep punching until your screen is plastered in blood and you can continue bashing the guy’s head in if you wish! It almost makes you feel guilty for enjoying these barbaric acts.

The majority of the gameplay is destroying different hordes of enemies (and they give you a nice variety to work with). You will have to employ different strategies with different opponents, since some are more vulnerable to certain kinds of weapons. You can get away with button mashing in the later stages of the game once you’ve leveled up to a certain degree, but prior to that you do have to learn to dodge and get your timing right.

One thing I noticed is that there are fewer puzzles this time around and even those are not as complex as some of the ones in the previous games. I’m guessing this will resonate well with the majority of gamers as it keeps the momentum going. I would’ve personally liked a few difficult puzzles but I didn’t mind this change of pace too much either. The rest is ‘simply’ fighting gods and even titans and slaying them in creative and brutal ways which will leave you quite impressed with Kratos.

One thing that set God of War apart from regular action games was the utterly engrossing storyline based on Greek Mythology. That is still the case, but this time you don’t really feel the story moving forward in a meaningful way until the latter part of the game. Also it feels the storyline is a bit fragmented. Kratos viciously slays everyone and everything (even unnecessarily at times) from beginning and then near the end he suddenly becomes emo. This also leads to an ending that was a big disappointment in my books, unfortunately I cannot discuss that here! Luckily the ride was good enough to compensate for the erratic storyline.

All in all, this game is quite identical to its predecessors, and even better in some ways. Santa Monica Studio stuck to their winning formula from the previous games and polished off a few things to deliver the ultimate action adventure game experience. One thing to note is that this game is not very long – about 8-10 hrs, but perfect for this kind of experience. If you have no objections to an absurd amount of blood and gore then I recommend you go out and pick this up right away.

Genre: Action

Platform: PS3 Exclusive

Developed by: SCE Santa Monica

Published by: Sony Entertainment